The Ganesh Festival is one of my favourite festivals among others. At my place, we celebrate Ganesh Festival for one and half days where we perform pooja for one and half days. But, amidst this happiness, there is one saddening thing and i.e. departing from our beloved Bappa. I always used to think that there has to be some way where we can keep our Bappa alive. I guess, Bappa heard my prayers. Mumbai’s sculptor Dattadri Kothur came up with ‘Tree Ganesha’, a unique and environment-friendly way to keep our Bappa alive.

What is Tree Ganesha?Dattadri makes the Tree Ganesha from red soil and compost. While making this idol, he penetrates ladyfingers seeds into it. After he is done with the idol, he gives it the final touch with the help of red ochre. Then this idol is kept in a pot like a tray. After performing pooja for 1.5 days, 5 days or 10 days, one can immerse these idols in the tub. The other way of immersing idol is watering the idol for 6-7 days repeatedly and the idol starts dissolving and slowly and steadily the seeds gets rooted. After two weeks, one will get to see the plant. So, after the immersion, Bappa lives in the form of the plant. What a way to keep your Bappa alive!

In 2015, I prepared an idol out of the soil and performed pooja. I shot the video of same and uploaded it on social media platform. Mumbaikars loved the idea so much that last year I received an order of 400 to 500 idols.Dattadri Kothur, artist

This year, Dattadri started the ‘Tree Ganesha’ workshop at BDD chawl. These idols range from 9 inches to 18 inches costing from INR 2,200 to INR 4,500. This year, he received more than 500 orders. The demand for Tree Ganesh is increasing and catering interest of celebrities. Actor Riteish Deshmukh, education minister Vinod Tawde, and political leaders are showing interest in Tree Ganesha. Recently, Marathi actor Sai Tamhankar paid a visit to Dattadri Kothur’s workshop.

Every year, we cannot oversee the broken immersed idols lying helplessly on the shores of Girgaum Chowpatty. The only solution to this is switching over to eco-friendly Ganpati. Until when are we going to dump POP idols mindlessly in the sea? It is high time, we either should bring in clay idols and immerse in our very own tubs or bring in Tree Ganesha. Both the options are environment pro and harmless.